Where Can I Get A Wing From

[1967andy]

my 2004 ls430 was hit over the xmas holidays, it has been in for repair since then as they are waiting for a new wing, apparently none in the country and unable to get a date when they will be

any one got any ideas or know how long things normally take when lexus dont have them in?

have had problems with other cars before and generally parts can be sourced within about 24/48 hrs, why cant lexus - with their excellent customer service - do the same? they could at least say, sorry mate it will be 4 weeks, at least i would know!

as it is im just hanging around waiting indefinitely

[SteveLS400]

Hi

Have you tried fleabay? Or Googling. Must you have a brand new one? Their must be a few breakers with accident damaged 430's.

Steve

[Redsteve]

Hi Andy,

I have had the same problem from Toyota.

I broke the float in the carb on my Hilux so I went to order one from Toyota. They told me that there were none in stock in the UK and they had no idea (not even a ball park figure) how long it would take to source one and import it. They did take my phone number and promised they would ring me when they had some more details.

Two days later they rang me and told me they had the float and I could pick it up any time!

I hope you have a similar result.

Redsteve.

[mikesands]

snap Andy - mine was hit between Xmas and New Year in Stockton. RMB got a wing straight away though - and a headlight at £700 - fortunately the other party forked out. Maybe I got the last wing

Mike

[1967andy]

snap Andy - mine was hit between Xmas and New Year in Stockton. RMB got a wing straight away though - and a headlight at £700 - fortunately the other party forked out. Maybe I got the last wing

Mike

thanks for the help

needs to be a new one as other parties insurance is paying

will have a look on fleabay, in case they have any - bit of a longshot but anythings worth a try at the moment

mike - was it the drivers side wing - if it was im not happy! , mine also needed a bonnet, bumper, headlight and something behind the bumper was making a funny electrical noise too - so whatever that was needs replacing too.

was a young lad who skidded into the car while it was parked up, he wanted to settle without involving the insurance, until i rang rmb for some prices, he nearly fell over when i gave him the headlight price and soon changed his mind

cant wait to see the final bill - if i ever get one. nice to see someone (lexus and uk assistance )benefitting from the snow and ice

[mikesands]

snap Andy - mine was hit between Xmas and New Year in Stockton. RMB got a wing straight away though - and a headlight at £700 - fortunately the other party forked out. Maybe I got the last wing

Mike

thanks for the help

needs to be a new one as other parties insurance is paying

will have a look on fleabay, in case they have any - bit of a longshot but anythings worth a try at the moment

mike - was it the drivers side wing - if it was im not happy! , mine also needed a bonnet, bumper, headlight and something behind the bumper was making a funny electrical noise too - so whatever that was needs replacing too.

was a young lad who skidded into the car while it was parked up, he wanted to settle without involving the insurance, until i rang rmb for some prices, he nearly fell over when i gave him the headlight price and soon changed his mind

cant wait to see the final bill - if i ever get one. nice to see someone (lexus and uk assistance )benefitting from the snow and ice

Sorry Andy - just picked this post up. Yes it was driver's side wing. The 3rd party was a garage and wanted me to use his body shop MD Auto in Oxbridge lane Stockton 01642 633688. MD autos told me that he thought he could have made my dented wing good, but I insisted on the new one so it's possible Mike at MD still has my bent one there. He did a good job on the fitting and painting. He's probably still got the £700 headlight too - the only reason they had to replace that was because the plastic mounting lugs had broken

Give him a call

By the way my insurance policy (like everyone's) obliges me to inform them of any accident whether my fault or not even if no insurance companies are going to be involved - so I did - what a nightmare. It's taken me all day to keep insisting to Swiftcover that it is not a claim and never will be.

Mike

[1967andy]

thanks for pinching the last wing in the country mike!

mine arrived yesterday, has been sprayed today and i should get the old girl back tomorrow. will let you know what the final bill is.

am also not too sure what to tell insurance next time, as i am claiming but the other party has admitted full liability and i dont even have to pay the excess. when i asked the insurance company what to do, they say i have to put it down as an accident with no blame and no claim, but in twenty odd years of insuring cars, ive never seen that option! they did assure me my premium wont alter, but i get the feeling that may be different when the time comes!

anyhow will be glad to see the back of the vauxhall vectra courtesy car and get back to a bit of comfort

[mikesands]

Haha - guess what Swiftcover have sent me a revised renewal notice reducing my NCB from maximum to 3 years and increasing my premium from £206 to £357. It's a scandal isn't it? So I will have a bit of a rant:

If insurance companies behave like this when innocent parties try to comply with the terms and conditions of their policy, then they will encourage people not to comply. Surely it's in their interest to encourage the reporting of no-fault bumps by guaranteeing that the owner will not get penalised (or bogged down in administration), because this will encourage people to keep minor bumps completely out of the insurance system. Of course there is another more cynical explanation. If the insurers penalise people for reporting no-fault accidents, it will encourage the owner to breach their insurance contract which will mean that insurers will be able to wriggle out of any subsequent claims if they discover the first bump.

Mike

[1967andy]

finally got the old girl back, paint etc looks good and can now see when the lights are turning going round corners, so can only assume that they werent working before and i had never noticed...bonus!

however have already taken it back once cos both headlights on main beam were pointed at the floor. having fixed that ive now noticed that one of the high beam lights is aimed about 6ft in front of the car!

cant be bothered to take it back again, so have had a quick look and can see a "dial" / wheel on the back of the high beam unit, near the top of the assembly. does anyone know if this just adjusts the vertical alignment _ which is what i want or is there another way of doing it?

also whereabouts should it be aimed, im guessing slightly higher than main beam assuming i park about 4ft from a wall on level ground.

the more ive written here, the more i think i should just take it back again!

[mikesands]

Hey Andy - I've never noticed that my headlights swivel round corners .... are you sure ? .... mine's a March 2001 LS430.

By the way you've got to laugh haven't you - Swiftcover have now increased my undiscounted premium by £125, reduced my noclaims bonus from 5 years to 3 years and said that now I've got less than 4 yrs ncd I can't take out ncd protection. Remember this is all 'cos I reported a bump for information purposes only and which has been fixed excellently and paid for by the 3rd party ....hey ho

Mike

[1967andy]

Hey Andy - I've never noticed that my headlights swivel round corners .... are you sure ? .... mine's a March 2001 LS430.

By the way you've got to laugh haven't you - Swiftcover have now increased my undiscounted premium by £125, reduced my noclaims bonus from 5 years to 3 years and said that now I've got less than 4 yrs ncd I can't take out ncd protection. Remember this is all 'cos I reported a bump for information purposes only and which has been fixed excellently and paid for by the 3rd party ....hey ho

Mike

arent insurance companies brilliant, not robbing dishonest thieves at all!

i think the swivel headlights were only fitted on the "mk2" version, ie the 6 speed one, which i think came out late 2003.

cost of repair 1 wing, 1 headlight, 1 bumper + spraying + labour £3800. someone somewhere is making a mint out of the ice on the roads! which, i might point out, wouldnt be there if the council wasnt too tight to grit the road - im not bitter!

does anyone have any stats for £ of car insurance claims + hospital costs/claims for all the people who slipped and broke bones compared to how much in £ the councils have saved by not gritting?

i think i might be a bit bitter after all!

[jamesholden]

does anyone have any stats for £ of car insurance claims + hospital costs/claims for all the people who slipped and broke bones compared to how much in £ the councils have saved by not gritting?

Nope, but there different budgets, so the councils are quite happy to save the money on grit and let the NHS pick up the bill.

[CB1300]

Ive had the same hassle.

Eventually my underwriters (Aviva ) removed my "potential claim".

The Post Office (The Brokers or as they like to be called, intermediaries )jumped my renewal premium up by £200 after I was hit by an uninsured driver on Christmas Eve .

I renewed with Ibuyeco but is also underwritten by Aviva for £269 FC.

I have since had a letter from Aviva saying that my claim as been removed from their system and will not effect my NCB or future premiums.

On another note Swiftcover couldnt offer me cover for a LS ??? Go figure ?

[mikesands]

Hmmmm.... perhaps it's not the insurance companies who are the robbers. Guess what - my repairs were identical to Andy's plus a foglight. I told RMB (who preumably did yours for £3800), that mine was not an insurance job and that the other party was going to pay from their own pocket. Total quote from RMB was under £2000. (in writing with everything itemised)

.... and we wonder why our insurance premiums go up each year

Mike

[1967andy]

mine was done by uk assistance in stockton, but they got all the parts from rmb cos when i tried to locate a wing myself, rmb told me they had already delivered it to uk assistance

[mikesands]

Andy - how sure are you that your list of parts they replaced is complete. And might there have been something that caused a lot of extra labour. Do you think the parts for your car would be more expensive than for mine

The reason I ask is that someone on an insurance forum is suggesting that no two accidents will be identical - which is of course true, but if only the same parts need replacing, then I would say to all intents and purposes the accidents were identical

Mike

[1967andy]

didnt get a list of parts etc mike, i just asked roughly what rhe cost was, out of curiosity.

but when i started the car up after it had been hit it was making some strange motor or pump noise from near the headlight area, so maybe some air con damage aswell ( not too sure whats in that area without having a look ), i also had a full bonnet spray aswell, cos there was one small dent on it ( filler and touch up would have done it)

might see if i can get a list of work done , as it is all part of history of the car

taking it in to lexus tomorrow, cos the lights still arent properly aligned, and im not too sure if they have the right bulbs in, cos the when aimed at a wall, the spread of light from the left bulb is wide and from the right one is like a spotlight?

so while its in, im going to get the whole repair area checked over to make sure its all as it should be

will keep you posted

ps did you get a sat nav disc?

[mikesands]

didnt get a list of parts etc mike, i just asked roughly what rhe cost was, out of curiosity.

but when i started the car up after it had been hit it was making some strange motor or pump noise from near the headlight area, so maybe some air con damage aswell ( not too sure whats in that area without having a look ), i also had a full bonnet spray aswell, cos there was one small dent on it ( filler and touch up would have done it)

might see if i can get a list of work done , as it is all part of history of the car

taking it in to lexus tomorrow, cos the lights still arent properly aligned, and im not too sure if they have the right bulbs in, cos the when aimed at a wall, the spread of light from the left bulb is wide and from the right one is like a spotlight?

so while its in, im going to get the whole repair area checked over to make sure its all as it should be

will keep you posted

ps did you get a sat nav disc?

Looks like it could have been a bigger job than mine then.

By the way does anyone know if the new wings come already anti-corrosion treated, or if the body shop is supposed to do it as part of the respray, and if it's the latter how we check whether it's treated.

Decided to wait a few months and see if they bring out a 2010 disc as the latest one shown as available is 2007. can't wait too long though as I want to go off round Europe in this dream machine. (By the way if I get it converted to LPG I can't go through Eurotunnel)

Mike

[1967andy]

ferry it is then!

just been down to lexus, had work inspected, all as it should be except headlight alignment about as far out as its possible to be ( so much for the monkey at uk assistance assuring me they had been aligned exactly to manufacturers spec!)

also they didnt even charge me!, and got a free cuppa

not bad lads really

[mikesands]

ferry it is then!

just been down to lexus, had work inspected, all as it should be except headlight alignment about as far out as its possible to be ( so much for the monkey at uk assistance assuring me they had been aligned exactly to manufacturers spec!)

also they didnt even charge me!, and got a free cuppa

not bad lads really

They are excellent lads - I'm particularly impressed that even though I spent just £8k with them, they treat me as if I'd bought the car new - £90k is it?

wish I could afford their prices for service etc

Mike

[mikesands]

Just an update on the insurance situation. Swiftcover have done well. They removed the 'claim' status of my incident in time for a new renewal notice to be sent out, and it was just £4 more than they quoted before they knew about the incident. Full marks to Swiftcover even though the incident reporting should be much easier than it currently is.

Mike

[1967andy]

thats quite good on the insurance as a lot of policys have gone up by about 15% this year without any excuses to raise them.

on a completely unrelated note, will be up your way over the weekend at a farm shop and was wondering what the castle eden inn is like for a bit of lunch? and if so what would you recommend?

thanks andy

[mikesands]

thats quite good on the insurance as a lot of policys have gone up by about 15% this year without any excuses to raise them.

on a completely unrelated note, will be up your way over the weekend at a farm shop and was wondering what the castle eden inn is like for a bit of lunch? and if so what would you recommend?

thanks andy

It's been revamped. Haven't tried it, but it's supposed to be OK. Or you could try Maximos in our place at the Old Brewery - nice if you like simple Italian

Mike